You don’t need to have kids of your own to know what Fortnite is. It seems to be something of a craze out there, what with gamers being lost in virtual vistas where they battle it out against other online gamers in a quest to survive.
You will see that every once in awhile, a game comes along; one that becomes the ‘next big thing’. In the gaming industry today, that’s Fortnight. We have already seen games like Candy Crush completely revolutionize the gaming industry, by getting people to stay on their handheld devices for hours on end. Pokémon Go was another game that blurred the lines between the real and virtual world.
Fortnite has taken the gaming industry to the next level. In essence, the game pans out like this: 100 players skydive onto an island, where they have to forage weapons and then fight with each other to death, while a storm closes in. There is no unnecessary spilling of blood, and the setting of the island is cartoony. You can build forts and explore neighborhoods, and even break into a little jig. In fact, a lot of people simply log in to watch the game.
For the more serious gamer, though, Fortnite means struggling to survive right till the very end. In fact, Fortnite even announced a whopping $100 million for Fortnite competitions in May.
What The Success Of Fortnite Means To The Gaming Industry?
So, what does that mean, then, where it comes to the gaming industry in general? If you go to see, after the unprecedented success of Fortnite, Epic Games is now valued up to $8billion. This represents a really significant jump from the $825 million it was valued at back in the year 2012.
That only means that based on the trading figures of other gaming giants like Electronic Arts and Blizzard Activision, the company could be worth a whopping $14 billion if it were put up on sale.
Needless to say, Epic’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, who is a controlling shareholder, is a billionaire. In fact, every big game publisher out there is trying to capitalize on the trend by hopping onto the battle royale bandwagon. Everyone wants a slice of the pie. In fact, the new Battlefield might be taking inspiration from Battle Royale Games.
No wonder, then, that Fortnites’s success could mean trouble for other companies. It is clear that Fornite is the dominant game of the season. Even musicians like Drake are taking part in those popular Fortnite streams. How far the other companies out there go where it comes to mimicking Fortnight’s success remains to be seen, of course. They might be successful, but to replicate the success of Fortnight is another thing altogether. It has an update cycle that runs at breakneck speed, and that is part of the reason why this game has become hugely popular.
In fact, even before the E3 2018 Activision announced that the new Call of Duty would come equipped with its very own Battle Royale Mode. There was even the developer of a new game, Mavericks: Proving Grounds, who announced the upcoming beta version of their game that features 400- person and even 1000-person battle royale modes.
Delving Deeper Into The Battle Royale Trend
Of course, it is clear that Fortnight has started a hugely successful trend, and it remains to be seen juts how long this craze lasts. Will it stick around for the longest period of time or will it die soon, as it happened in the case of Pokémon Go? Well, that is something only time will be able to tell.
It is interesting to note that it was really another game, PUBG, from which Fortnite took the best elements, and then used them to make an even better game. There might be another game developer who might do the very same thing to Epic, you never know. However, Fortnite has definitely made its money and won the hearts of millions of people around the globe.
So, there might be another game that comes and pulls Fortnite down from its number one position. Until then, enjoy playing it. After all, everyone out there seems to be playing it, right from little kids to professional athletes. Why shouldn’t you?
You might also wish to check out our article on the likelihood of Capcom introducing more cloud based games in Japan after Resident Evil 7.
